The Greek community club may be demolished to make way for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment into a cutting-edge facility for functions, exhibitions, and retail in Sydney's southwest.
The Greek Orthodox Community of NSW has lodged plans with the Sydney South Planning Panel for a $22m five-storey community facility, including a bar and gaming rooms alongside an arts and cultural exhibition space at 206-214 Lakemba St, Lakemba.
If approved, the current two-storey Greek Community Club occupying 5,400 square meters would be demolished to pave the way for the upgraded center. The project's planners propose that the centre will have two levels of basement parking. On the ground floor, there will be four shops facing Lakemba St, a kitchen and bar area, a performance theatre, an archival room, and an arts and cultural exhibition area.
The first level is designed to include three function rooms, a members' lounge, a children's play area, and a galley. The second level will house five meeting rooms, five office spaces, a presidential suite, and a boardroom.
The last two floors would have a restaurant, nine office spaces, a reception lounge, and three meeting rooms.
However, Canterbury-Bankstown council has raised issues with the development, including concerns that the proposed 21.5m building height does not comply with the 18m height limit in the council’s local environmental plans.
According to 2021 statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1.9 percent of the residents of the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area listed Greece as their country of birth.
